I took off after work on Fri and hooked up with my calling partner Scot. We got up early on Sat and went to our first stand. We called in a dog- a farm dog. So we loaded up and went to another stand we were familiar with. After we ran the call for a while, I spotted a coyote on a distant hill side. I took this picture from where I was sitting to show the view. The coyote was standing on the far hill to the right of the tree in the foreground.

His body language told me he wasn't going to come in any closer, and was probably going to head over that hill and be gone forever. I had a pretty good rest and decided to take the shot. Turns out, it was a good shot. I wacked him at about 300 yards with a .223 55 grn Nosler Ballistic tip, shot from a single shot NEF Handyrifle. Here he is after I recovered him.

Here is the stand I was sitting at...a pile of dirt on a pond dam. You can see my shooting sticks still there.

later that afternoon, we called in a young dog. He was about 40 yards away, looking at the decoy when I cut him down with a .243

This morning I got up and continued the murder spree. This one was shot at 30 yards with the same .243.

Needless to say, it was a lot of fun. I am looking forward to a great season based on my early success. I love coyote hunting, and I give credit to everything I know about the sport to Jehler...his tag lines says he is an expert!!!

Last edited by TomKat on Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

Awesome TomKat. Curious, how many dawgs you shoot a year? I'm working on some lighter coyote loads for my .260. I realize it may be a wee bit large for dawgs, but it sure is a great gun too shoot at long ranges. I'm thinking of 100gr A-Max bullets?

Normaly about 8-10 a year. If I could go more often it would be more. 90 % of those are shot under 100 yards.

.260- I never shot one, but I am sure its a good one. Look at the reloading data and get a bullet that shoots flat and is fast. Good luck! Coyote hunting takes lots of patience and a little luck thrown in.

.260 is a great 'lil gun and got its first taste of coyote blood last spring, on the range finder it was 208yds but I have a feeling that the heat mirage may have skewed range findings. At that time I was shooting my normal load of 129gr. going 2800fps, which needless to say did considerable damage. Although it already shoots very flat trajectories, I'm thinking something in the 95-100gr range. I'll have to start on coming up with loads and testing/sighting in with them next spring once it dries out a bit.

I quickly found out how difficult hunting these clever dawgs can be, its a challenge but the excitement is awesome. It really does take a few mishaps to have success.

I played a lot of golf when I was younger, and golf is all about marked distances. I am pretty good at guessing distance from 300 yards in. And honestly, most of us have no business taking a shot at a coyote beyond that any ways.

When I first get to the stand I start looking at natural objects around me and guessing what the distance is, for a reference. I look at something around that 300 yard mark as the outside of what I want to shoot at. I prefer the 60 to 100 yard shot to all others.

When you get really good at calling them in, they will be closer than 100 yards from you 90% of the time. Anyone that packs a big glass on a gun is not doing it right, IMO. 3 x 9 is a good way to go. You can always dial it up, but you can NEVER dial it down fast enough. My AR15 has a 1.5 x6 scope on it, and my Handyrifle in .223 has a 2 x 7 on it. The rest of my guns have 3 x 9 Bushnell Elite 3200's on them. You will be surprised at how close they will suddenly appear to you. Nothing is tougher than trying to find a moving 40 yard coyote in a scope set at 6,7,8, 9 power.

I always start on the lowest (widest field of view) power to start out with.I have stopped a number of them at 60-100 yards that were going to come in all the way. I bark at them, they stop, I shoot. Out go the lights.

The shooting is a side note to HUNTING them. If you do the rest of it correctly, shooting comes as second nature.

Nice shootin, on my next trip I will get some pics. We are over run with yotes and bobcats at our deer lease. The landowner is a big quail hunter but due to the amount of vermins the quail numbers are dropping. So to keep the landowner happy I have been doing so predator control out there. Shot 8 yotes and 13 bobcats all only on 1200 acres in two years now. I typically use soft point 55gr out of my .223 but I just got some Barnes hollow points and want to see what damage I can do with those.